I was a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in Poland from 1990-1992. I was part of the very first group to go into Eastern Europe (the government was communist when I arrived and democratic when I left… pretty cool, eh?)
I worked in a very small village teaching English.
After I returned and worked as an English teacher in the US for a few years, I decided to go to grad school. I worked my way through school working part time as a recruiter for the Peace Corps.
So I’ve seen both sides of it. I worked both as a PCV, and on the administrative side.
I have found there are a lot of misconceptions and weird ideas about the Peace Corps.
I’ve occassionally considered joining the Peace Corps. What is involved and are there any special requirements? Do you have a choice about where you are placed?
I seriously considered joining the Peace Corps after graduating from college, but decided against it. I occasionally regret my choice to become a corporate flunky, but that’s another story…
How much Polish did you know beforehand?
How fluent did you become in the years you were there?
Do you still keep in touch with people you met then?
Was there any anti-American sentiment, and if so, how did it affect you? Related to that, what were your experiences in the transition from communism to democracy?
How hard is it to actually get accepted as a volunteer? In that application they send out they want to know your complete psych history, etc. Do they actually reject anyone who has ever undergone counseling? If not, why ask about it?
There is quite a lot involved. From the time you place your application to the time you actually go (assuming you are selected) is something like 9 months to a year. You have to write essays, get fingerprinted, give your school transcripts etc etc.
There are lots and lots of special requirements. Each position has it’s own requirements. For example, to work in Sierra Leon doing AIDS education might require proficiency in French, a degree in health or biology, and two years of volunteer experience in an AIDS related field.
You can be as specific or as general as you want in requesting where you are placed. But the more specific you are, the less likely you are to be placed anywhere.
To use the above example, if your specialty is AIDS education, and you request to go to Brazil. Maybe we don’t have an AIDS education program in Brazil. Maybe we have one but you don’t have all of the qualifications. Maybe you have all of the qualifications but other applicants have more experience.
If insted you request anywhere in Latin America, we are more likely to have a program that matches your skills. If you are open to going anywhere in the world, it is most likely that we can find a country progam that matches.
I’m going to be leaving for the Peace Corps in June. I’m going to be serving in Ghana, so no snow for me for a while.
One question I have, kinda similar to Ino’s, is about learning the language. That’s one thing that scares me a little bit. Did you know any Polish before you left, and if not, how difficult was it learning a new language, especially in only a few months. Secondly, how well were you able to communicate early on after training?
If you have any other random advice outside the stuff they tell you that might be relevant to a Peace Corps volunteer in a general sense would be appreciated too.
I knew almost no Polish before I got there. I and all the other PCVs in my program spent the first 3 months all staying with diffent host families in a town in Poland. During the day we got together for intensive instruction in 3 areas: Polish language (4 hours a day), Polish history and culture, and job specific info (in my case, how the Polish school system works, grading, etc)
At the end of the day we went home to our host families who spoke no English. I can’t tell you how uncomfortable it was at first. The whole family was staring at me as if I were a TV set, and the most I could do was to look up single words in my handy dandy Polish/English dictionary.
After the 3 months of training, we were all sent to different assignments in various cities and villages.
I operated exclusively in Polish for my over 2 years there. I got pretty good at it.
I still keep in touch with some other PCVs and a few students. In fact I got an e-mail just this morning from a fellow PCV from then.
There wasn’t a lot of anti-Americanism. Since the people were just coming out of communism, they were strongly looking to America for support and inspiration.
But there was a lot of anti-Semetism. And the minority PCVs got hasseled.
It’s been several years since I was a recruiter, so my info might be a little out of date, but here’s what I know.
The overall acceptance rate is something like 15%. But of the people I recruited the percent was much higher. That’s mostly because I was the on-campus recruiter at a major university, so most of my applicant had at least BA degrees from a respected Univ.
They don’t reject anyone who has had counseling. Not at all. I did have one applicant note that he had couseling because he’d been suicidal. Before accepting him, the PC required he get some more couseling to be sure that he was no longer suicidal. He had to have the shrink write a report stating that he was in good mental health.
They ask about it because people apply who are drug addicts, bi-polar, eating disorders etc. This won’t necessarily disqualify you, but ANY medical problem (physical or mental) has to be shown not to interfere with your ability to do your job. You might not have regular access to health care. So they have to be very careful.
You are right to be worried about language. It’s a very hard thing. It’s frustratingly slow to learn. And people tend to treat you like an idiot since you sound like a slightly dense child when you speak.
Learn as much as you can now.
After training I was able to speak like a cave-woman. Understandable, but I couldn’t have in-depth conversations.
I can’t think of any brilliant advice. It’s wonderful, life changing, horrible, frustrating, intense, boring, stressful and almost every other adjective you can think of.
Don’t give up. You’ll hate it sometimes. You’ll feel that you aren’t making a difference sometimes. But if you stick with it, you’ll have a life time of wonderful memories and funny stories.
And you will make a difference. Definitely in your own life, and probably in the lives of some other pretty wonderful people.
Speaking of the fact that Pole, for instance, are complex and sometimes unpleasant people, can you talk about misconceptions about Poland? Or stories that you’ve heard from others about misconceptions they had before spending months living and working in another country.
Also, do you have naughty stories of things you did that don’t fit the profile of the saintly Peace Corp worker?
I have a very good friend who is in the master’s program at the University of Denver, and will be going to Eastern Europe this fall doing economic development work. What are going to be the best ways to keep in touch? Will I be able to visit, call, write, e-mail or smoke signal? Are there any concerns I should have?
One of my friends is a PC Aids counselor in Guyana. He came up to the area for surgery since Guyana’s medical system is very understaffed. The thing that surprised me most is out how low the stipend is. Does that fluctuate depending on where you are?
What are the other qualifications from being selected in the Peace Corps other than at least a Bachelor’s degree?
Poles aren’t any more complex or unpleasant than anyone else I know. I guess the only misconception about Poland (and every other country on the planet) is to think you might know ANYTHING about a person just by knowing what country. You don’t. I know a guy from Poland. That tells you nothing about whether he’s smart or humorless or silly or prejudiced or selfless.
As for being saintly… huh? I never met a saintly PCV in my life. They come in all stripes, except the saintly ones.
My information is over 10 years out of date on that issue. When I was there it was possible to call, but very difficult. I had to place a call through the post office and wait for it to go through. It often took 8 hours get to get a line. I’m sure that has changed enormously by now.
I got letters easily, but they took week to arrive.
I can’t say a thing about e-mail. It didn’t exist when I was there. It may now. It probably depends a lot if your friend is stationed in a major city or rural area.
My understanding of the stipend is that it is supposed to allow you to live at the same or equivalent level as the average person in you community. So of course it varies widely.
I found the stipend they gave me to be more than adequate. There wasn’t that much to buy besides food.
Having a Bachelor’s degree is NOT a requirement to be in the PC. Some jobs require a BA/BS but certainly not all. When I was a recruiter there was a great deman for people with beekeeping knowledge. They cared much more about your beekeeping experience than your schooling.
Each job/position has it’s own set of requirements. The only requirements that are true for all PC jobs are that you are over 18 and a US citizen.
You get a few weeks off a year (3?). The rules just say you have to take off during a time that won’t be disruptive to your job (ex. not during the harvest if you work in agriculture).
The PC recommends you use your time off to further explore the country or region in which you are stationed.
But if you have money saved up (or someone else pays for it) you can fly back to the US. Or your family can join you in the coutry and you can travel around together.
Is it true that drug allergies disqualify one from the Peace Corps? I’ve had two answers to this question, yes and no. Both came from people that were either PC recruiters and/or PC admin types. Or could somebody with a drug allergy get in, but just not get sent to certain areas where typical alternative drugs would be unavailable? The allergies I’m personally concerned about are those to penicillin and erythromycin.
When you request a certain country, are you forever stuck with that as your eventual destination, whether an opening appears there or not? In other words, if I say, “Send me to Nigeria,” will I be stuck in the United States if there are no Nigerian slots for me? Or do I have second and third choices that will be considered. Or what? I know the military will take a person’s dream list of destinations into consideration, but you’ll still end up wherever you’re needed–is this how the PC operates as well? Or not?
I can’t say for sure about the drug allergy. It never came up with any of my applicants.
Recruiters really try to discourage people from being very specific with their country preference, just so they don’t get stuck like you mentioned. We would recommend you don’t say “only Nigeria” unless you really don’t want to go anywhere else.
But let’s imagine you ignore your friendly recruiter’s advice and say “only Nigeria.” If you are a highly in-demand type of volunteer (like those beekeepers I mentioned earlier), you might get asked, “Gee, sorry but we don’t have any positions for you in Nigeria. Would you consider Guatamala insted?” But if you are a more borderline case (some good skills, but not creme de la creme), we might just pass you over, “Guy only wants Nigeria. Nothing open there so forget him!”
I also just wanted to point out two major misconceptions I often hear. One is inaccurate, but the second is downright dangerous.
You have to be young to join the Peace Corps: FALSE. In my group the oldest PCV was over 80. In many ways older people are more valuable because they have much more experience. We had several retirees in my group, and two married couples.
There is some connection between the Peace Corps and the CIA: FALSE, FALSE, FALSE! This rumor is prevalent and extremely hazardous to the volunteers out there in the field. PCVs have been killed because someone suspected they were actually CIA spies. Just last month Russia expeled all PCVs because of the same fear. It’s not true!
